Provision of insulation on parts in industrial applications is common. One such application is application of insulation materials on rocket motors. It will be appreciated that parts of a rocket motor experience elevated temperatures during operation, but it is critical to maintain temperature control on subcomponents including electronics, controls, and fuel storage. Currently, Kevlar® filled EPDM (EPDM/Kevlar) is traditionally used as insulation materials for numerous applications including insulation on rocket motors. The EPDM/Kevlar material offers low thermal conductivity, low-cost, and ease of integration with composite manufacturing techniques. However, an EPDM/Kevlar material erodes readily in use through thermal decomposition thereby requiring an increased thickness to retain structural integrity and insulative performance for the duration of a rocket motors operation cycle. The increased thickness translates to an increased mass of the insulation material required and a commensurate increase in total weight of the vehicle affixed to the rocket motor imparting performance degradation in terms of speed, range, and/or payload capacity.
Efforts have been made to supplement traditional EPDM/Kevlar with reinforcement including nanoclays, nanofibers, and other inorganic materials to improve thermal resistance and erosion. However, while such efforts have offered improvement they are still ultimately restrained by their flawed dependence on the same elastomer base in EPDM and its propensity for thermal erosion.